x 7 of the above with 90' rest between each complex, sucked today was tired from a bad nights sleep elbows felt a little off today too.

BJJ, worked on some headlock escapes, followed by some butterfly guard sweep to armbar, lots of rolling at the end, hurt two peoples arms today in rolling, either its my lack of control or their stubbornness at least one of them was put on very quick but it was one of those quick response armbars when the grab your head. Still felt bad, don't like to hurt people which is ironic.

BJJ worked on some fancy back taking shit from reverse dela riva guard, two options given depending on their reaction. specific training was guard passing or sweep and submit, it wasn't my day today, beaten from pillar to post. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail - today I was the nail.

BJJ worked on some fancy back taking shit from reverse dela riva guard, two options given depending on their reaction. specific training was guard passing or sweep and submit, it wasn't my day today, beaten from pillar to post. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail - today I was the nail.

Do you find you need to systemically calm down after jiu-jitsu? I get so amped up I often can't sleep for hours. Do you find Chesser's breathing method helps you? I usually do some type of light warm up and then stretch to relax before bed; otherwise I will lay there for an hour or more sometimes. But I'm always looking for an easier way...thoughts?

"Prepare your hearts as a fortress, for there will be no other." -Francisco Pizarro González

Fat Cat wrote:Do you find you need to systemically calm down after jiu-jitsu? I get so amped up I often can't sleep for hours. Do you find Chesser's breathing method helps you? I usually do some type of light warm up and then stretch to relax before bed; otherwise I will lay there for an hour or more sometimes. But I'm always looking for an easier way...thoughts?

Yeah I do have to try and calm down otherwise like you I'm too amped to sleep for hours, for a long time I used to do a little yoga but now I find it more relaxing to have a warm bath to relax the muscles, Then I do the three stretches from convict conditioning 2 takes about 2 mins to do those and I usually feel wringed out in a good way after that. I do find cheeser's breathing method helpful, I actually was surprised to find how difficult it was to do 20 sec breath when I first started, guess it shows the tension carried from the day/jiu jitsu.

Not much training done, the rest of this week between my wedding anniversary and work stress, its been a tad busy. Might ditch KBM, the 6 week mark is a natural breakaway point, feeling the need for some variety and I'm not sure if BJJ + a structured training regime go together, or if I'm being lazy. The professor and 11 others have gone to Rio to train with Ricardo for 2.5 weeks gutted I couldn't go, one day I will.

BJJ, Taught a class on basic side control, transitions to mount, how to pin correctly and set up some basic submissions - bread cutter choke, and two armbar variations, then set up specific sparring from side control 3 wins then rotate off to the back of the line.

Tuesday 27/11/12

BJJ, ran the open mat some people turned up expecting a class so I tried to guide them to work on stuff that will help their progression, showed some drills if they needed help, sparring to finish.

Wednesday 28/11/12

BJJ, class was on basic closed sequence of collar choke, armbar and triangle, specific sparring from closed guard then full rolling to finish.

Our school is big on specific sparring kind of a tradition that's come down from our master team, alliance, brasa and checkmat roots, throughout this time my professor has stayed loyal the Vieira brothers Leo and Ricardo, I think that specific sparring is a good way to improve your jiu jitsu quickly.

Outside of the mats I have been hit and miss with strength and conditioning work, struggling to find something to do that I can follow along with, I was thinking ROP stuff or a mix of bodyweight and krazyballs not sure which - suggestions are most welcome, cannot pay you for your advice but good karma will come your way!

Covered a class for one of the coaches, went over the basics of a position we will be working on for a fee weeks half spider guard, some people call it 93 guard, whatever its called doesn't really matter it works pretty well for me in sparring and its going to be the new focus for a while as the professor has just returned from Brazil with some more details on the position.

BJJ, with our professor coming back from Brazil we have a load of new stuff to go over, mainly half guard stuff, today we drilled three sweeps from when the opposition back steps the half guard like Marcelo does. Whilst in Brazil one of our brown belts was awarded his faxia preta, really happy for him, we now have 2 black belts at our academy which is a rare thing here in the UK - especially outside of London!

Still have doms from the sandbag squats on Monday basically means I'm a soft shite!

BJJ, worked on a new position from Brazil, like many positions they don't give it a name, its a little like x-guard really interesting position. I talked with my professor more about training in Brazil he said against the world champion black belts and brown belts like Jackson Sousa he had no guard the level of passing was insane he said the pass from a distance. He also talked about Ricardo coming out and rolling through every brown and black belt in the room, just playing about almost, its a shame he stopped competing when he did, but he is so involved in the VB project in the favelas its one of his main passions.

Kids BJJ class, don't normally post these but there was some promotions given out today, I was asked to present the belts as I'm the main coach, was nice to see the excitement in there faces. Off course the belts were signed off by the professors who where there as well.

Workout:

Bunch of bottoms up cleans, hot potato drills and figure 8's with the 16kg bell

Taught a class on the deep half guard for the professors who were away at our sister gym handing out some promotions, I tried to keep the class balanced so I demonstrated a few linked sweeps and some tactics on passing the deep half.

BJJ, class was on basic half guard principles, passing and sweeps. Sparring after I felt good, some things coming together and feeling effortless at times especially with The lower grades, timing is spot on - ahead even. I have also noticed lately in bad spots I feel relaxed and I'm using the correct timing to escape etc, now I must add a caveat - I'm not awesome, more like some things seem to be clicking at the minute, I'm enjoying it while it lasts because there will be a dip in form sooner or later.

BJJ, class was on a modified guard called hook guard from Brazil, Its a little like x-guard. We covered a few sweeps and entries into the position then sparring followed, had my arm stretched out pretty good in an armbar, a few cracks and pops nothing to serious but it is sore - it was accidental just a weird positional thing.

Friday 21/12/12

BJJ class was a repeat of yesterday's, which was nice as I like this position and extra reps always helps, sparring was OK my arm is sore but I made my training partners aware and just try to keep it safe.